The manufacture of golf balls typically involves a series of sequential processes performed at different processing stations, typically spatially separated one from another. Golf balls typically have at least a core and a dimpled cover formed over the core. The outer cover of the golf ball is formed with various materials, such as urethane elastomers, balata, ionomers or any other appropriate materials. The cover surfaces are formed with dimples of various numbers, sizes and patterns, which improve flight distance, control and stability. The golf ball cover generally contains a white or other colored concentrate, or is painted. The outer surface of the ball covers usually have the manufacturers indicia printed thereon, as well as an application of a paint or clear coat for the purposes not only of good appearance but also of improving flight distance and protecting of the indicia.
Freshly coated golf balls are transported from a clear coat spray paint booth to a separate drying station at a remote location. Additional printing, such as a logo, may be applied over the cured clear coat.
Each process must be carefully monitored for quality assurance purposes. Inspections based on predetermined control criteria are performed to achieve a desired production quality. The manufacturer can manually inspect the entire lot if a given number of defective balls are found therein. Moreover, if a defect, such as a gross cosmetic defect or a defect affecting performance or durability, is found, the manufacturer may choose to shut down the entire system.
Since automated production is faster, each of the above processes can be performed at a separate automated processing station functioning at optimal efficiency and speed, so that the overall production rate is maintained at the desired high level. For instance, pad-printing apparatus preferably includes an array of print-pads arranged to apply a production print sequentially on various locations on the surface of the golf ball, with the golf ball being indexed before being passed to the next print-pad. Also, the clear coating process preferably is performed by an automated spray painting technique utilizing a spray paint booth with one or more spray paint guns. A quick drying clear coat paint having a catalyzing agent may be used to reduce the usual clear coat drying time of about ten hours to about one hour or less.
On the other hand, automation of the manufacturing process can cause various manufacturing defects. For example, automated pad-printing equipment may leave smudges from excess ink carried by the printing pad. Vibration or improper set-up, such as improper positioning or accidental switching of the paint supply hoses cutting off paint supply to the spray guns, causes defective coating on golf balls. Moreover, the clear coat paint may periodically clog the spray booth filter, interfering with proper spraying of paint.
While clear coat spray painting operation utilizing catalyzation can significantly reduce the curing time, catalyzation can also occur in the spray booth, resulting in a thick brittle coating on the spray booth filter and increasing the probability of spray paint malfunctions. Clogging of spray guns and gelling of the clear coat during application result in inadequate clear coating of the golf ball. Moreover, transferring the freshly coated golf ball to the curing station before inspection does not alert the operator to attend to unacceptable spray painting apparatus conditions until the end of the curing process. Thus, to maintain high production rates, it is necessary to identify the defective products early on in the treatment process.
Given the quality control necessary to meet production standards and the high production rates of golf ball manufacturing plants, actions to correct a malfunction in the automated processing equipment should be taken as soon as possible. Accordingly, there is a need for speedy and efficient inspection of golf balls so that any manufacturing problem may be corrected early to reduce further production of defective balls.
A variety of automated inspection systems and quality control methods are used in automated processing stations, such as coating, finishing, or otherwise affecting the surface appearance of products. Most of the known automated inspection systems employ vision cameras to capture an image of the products. The products to be inspected are typically illuminated to allow the cameras to see the entire products, e.g., dimpled golf balls are illuminated to prevent shadows from forming in the dimples. For example, commonly-owned U.S. App. No. 2001/0012389 discloses another golf ball inspection system using a custom lighting system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,244 discloses an elaborate system to illuminate golf balls. U.S. Pat. No. 6,462,812 discloses an inspection system utilizing a plurality of charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras to inspect indicia on golf balls. U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,098 discloses a vision system for inspecting fruits. This system also utilizes CCD cameras, albeit with an infrared lens, to capture the images of fruits.
At least one vision inspection system employs infrared cameras for inspection. U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,520 discloses a system for inspecting fruits. This system uses a first camera in the near infrared range and a second camera in the mid infrared range to capture images of the products to be inspected. The background information is removed and the two images are subtracted leaving the defects. A drawback of this system is that at least a portion of the exterior surface of the products to be inspected must be raised about 5° C. to 15° C. higher.
Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,630,998 discloses light-emitting diodes mounted over the golf balls to be inspected to provide constant and even light sources. In addition to using non-ambient light sources for even lighting, the '998 patent discloses the use of ultraviolet lighting in order to detect the presence of a substance, such as a coating, applied to the surface of a golf ball. Images of the golf ball are captured by a detecting apparatus and then analyzed using discrete element detecting algorithm and industry standard blob analysis. Standard blob analysis tools count the number of discrete elements in the viewing area. This technique uses an algorithm to create a boundary outline around each discrete element being inspected. The boundary is broken down, such as into small line segments and arcs, to create a geometric representation which may be modified based on a best fit algorithm to match the object being inspected to a reference image. The algorithm then searches for breaks or significant changes in contour along the boundary, missing ink inside each boundary, and excess ink, marks, smudges, or doctor blade marks outside each boundary. Additionally, the boundary detection algorithm may calculate the relative positions of pairs of indicia, such as a logo and a number, to assure correct positioning. This is done by comparing the pattern detected in an inspection image with a predefined reference pattern. In a vision inspection system, the discrete element typically is identified as a continuous area of dark pixels exceeding a specified gray scale value without a break.
Cameras capturing images from the visible range in systems of the prior art generally produce images with low dynamic range, defined as the ratio of intensity of the highest luminance areas of a scene to the intensity of the lowest luminance areas of a scene. An inspection system employing low dynamic range image processing to capture an indoor scene may produce images that have low contrast, for instance a contrast of 50:1 or 100:1, while the scene in reality may display a contrast of 1,000:1 or more. Because the image sensors of the prior art systems can accommodate only a relatively small range of incident light, fine details on the surface of the object under inspection can be obscured or lost when the image is displayed. The poor light dynamic range of the images of the prior art inspection systems can make it difficult for the operators of the systems to discern certain defects on the surface of golf balls. For instance, minute but significant inconsistencies in coating coverage or small smears of indicia may not be scrutable in the image produced by the cameras of a prior art system by an inspection technician. In the event that the analyzer of the inspection apparatus detects a defect, subsequent scrutiny of the image by the human operator may fail to pick up said defect, leading the operator to allow the defective product to proceed to distribution.
Further, prior art inspection systems that employ image sensors in the non-visible electromagnetic range alone produce images that have limited optical properties. Defects that do not radiate the appropriate energy at the proper intensity (i.e., infrared, ultraviolet) cannot be detected by the sensors of these systems. There exists a need in the art for an inspection system that utilizes multiple images of the object under inspection having different optical properties so that wider range of defects can be detected and scrutinized without the need for complex lighting.